1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a projection system. More specifically, the present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and projector for a projector system.
2. Related Art
One type of projection system currently known in the art is a so-called host-based type projection system, in which most of the image processing performed in a projector is executed by an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, which is then sent to the projector to project the data.
In such host-based type projection systems, the image processing ability of the information processing apparatus must be high enough to enable high-quality image projection. Various technologies have been proposed in the past which enable high-quality image projection, including the system described in Japanese Patent Application No. JP-A-2004-69996.
In the system described in JP-A-2004-69996, image data is generated by an information processing apparatus which corresponds to the specification of the display device of the projector This process includes converting the image data to the correct resolution, performing gamma correction or color shading correction and the like. Following this process, the image data is transmitted to the projector.
In the video equipment currently known in the art, particularly in projectors, it is preferable to have a high-gradation video display which uses bit precision of more than 10-bit according to color information such as RGB.
One problem with many systems, however, is that the information processing apparatus generally outputs color information in 8-bit, and even when the projector which can display high-gradation data, meaning that the output of the color information to the projector is actually limited to bit precision of 8-bit.
The same problems apply to the above related art. More specifically, it is necessary to perform image processing when an image signal cable is used as a transmission line to a display or screen, which creates limitations in the bit precision of the display. For example, when a GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) is used to execute image processing at high speeds, internal calculations can be executed to generate color information with bit precision more than 8-bit. Unfortunately, however, it is necessary that the improved bit precision is limited to the display ability (8-bit) of the screen. Therefore, it is difficult to transmit the result of image processing to the projector as image data as high-precision data with more than 8-bit color information.